Pele Mountain Assembles Team of Uranium Industry Leaders to Develop Eco Ridge Mine at Elliot Lake
Tuesday, August 26th 2008
Pele Mountain Resources Inc. announced that it has assembled a world-class technical team to develop its recently-named Eco Ridge Mine project in Northern Ontario’s historic Elliot Lake uranium camp. In October 2007, Pele received a positive scoping study for the project which outlined a NI 43-101 compliant resource of 6.4 million pounds of “indicated” U3O8 and 36.1 million pounds of “inferred” U3O8 and which provided the basis for an economically-viable, environmentally-compliant uranium mining and processing operation.(1)
Complementing Vice President of Uranium Operations Fergus Kerr, whose 35-year career includes 14 years in Elliot Lake with Denison Mines, Pele’s technical team now also includes industry veterans Roger Payne and Don Hovdebo, as well as SRK Consulting and SNC Lavalin. Pele has also engaged leading strategic communications firm, Hill & Knowlton, to assist the Company in advancing the Eco Ridge Mine project.
“The name ‘Eco Ridge Mine’ reflects our commitment to sustainable development as we lead the next generation of uranium mining at Elliot Lake,” explained Pele President and CEO Al Shefsky. “The name was carefully chosen to convey the unique nature of our project. Our top-notch technical team is leveraging leading-edge, environmentally-friendly technologies never before deployed in Canadian uranium mining to develop a safe, secure, and reliable operation that, we believe, will deliver significant long term benefits to the region and to our shareholders.”
Mr. Kerr added, “Our team is committed to achieving environmental, economic, and social sustainability at Eco Ridge. Every phase of this project, from development through operation and decommissioning, is being designed to safeguard the environment while providing Canada with a dependable, long-term energy source.”
Mr. Kerr is leading efforts to finalize the license application and project description for submission to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and the federal government’s Major Projects Management Office. These documents will detail Pele’s innovative approach at Eco Ridge, marking a significant advancement over methods used historically at Elliot Lake. The mining, processing, and waste management plans at Eco Ridge are the result of optimization studies pursued since the release of the scoping study which presented a “base case” scenario to support an 18-year mine life with 826,000 pounds of annual uranium production.(1)
Roger Payne joins the Pele team as a technical consultant to provide engineering and operational expertise. Mr. Payne has more than 40 years of professional engineering experience in Europe, Africa and the Americas, including 17 years with Rio Algom Limited where he held several senior positions.
Don Hovdebo has also been retained as a technical consultant, advising Pele on permitting issues and the preparation of its environmental impact assessment. Mr. Hovdebo has more than 16 years experience in uranium mining and related permitting issues, serving as project manager to both industry and government on new mine environmental impact assessments and on mine site decommissioning, reclamation, and final closure projects. He is a principal at SRK Consulting.
SRK Consulting is leading Pele’s pre-feasibility study at Eco Ridge, scheduled for completion in March 2009, in collaboration with SNC-Lavalin. SRK Consulting is developing the mine design and updating the NI 43-101 resource estimate, while SNC-Lavalin is leading efforts to optimize ore processing and waste management. SRK Consulting is an independent, international consulting practice with wide-ranging experience in all phases of mining from exploration to final closure. SNC-Lavalin is one of the world’s leading engineering and construction groups, with vast experience in operations and maintenance services.
Pele Mountain Resources is committed to the sustainable development of the Eco Ridge Mine in the historic Elliot Lake mining camp. The company is developing a safe, secure, and reliable uranium mining operation in order to deliver lasting benefits to local communities and its shareholders. Pele also holds a diverse portfolio of gold, diamond, and base metal projects in Northern Ontario. Pele stock is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “GEM”.
(1) The Scoping Study is preliminary in nature and includes both indicated and inferred mineral resources. Inferred mineral resources are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that the preliminary assessment will be realized.
